A man has been detained as a person of interest in the string of arson fires that have swept Los Angeles over the holiday week. INSIDE EDITION has the latest.
A man is being questioned by police investigating 55 arson fires that have terrorized the city of Los Angeles.
Described as "a person of interest," he wore a creepy grin as he was detained.
Police sources say he is German and angry that his mother is being deported by U.S. Immigration officials.
Investigators searching his minivan, which has Canadian plates, reportedly found materials for making fire bombs.
He is believed to be the man with a ponytail seen on a surveillance video on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the video footage he can be seen emerging from an underground parking lot, which was scene of one of the fires set since Friday. Many of the fires were set in carports beneath apartment buildings.
Among the buildings set ablaze is the one-time home of the late rock legend Jim Morrison. The fire started in a car on the street below, came up a wood structure making its way into a vent in the roof of the house.
Architect George Dallinger showed INSIDE EDITION's Jim Moret the extent of the damage.
Moret asked, "Was anything of historical note destroyed?"
"That's the positive part, it wasn't. It's all salvagable, so that's the good thing," said Dallinger.
Moret took a look at the kitchen of the bungalow, which was a charred mess.
In another fire, neighbors risked their lives to stop the blaze from spreading.
One resident told INSIDE EDITION, "We just can't understand why someone would do this to helpless people. We just us we don't understand why they've done this to us."
By sheer luck, the fires have caused no deaths or injuries, but the city remains on edge—fearful of another night of more arson attacks.
